Kelly is the latest in a long line of first-time NFL head coaches who've made the jump from a major program—in his case, the University of Oregon—to take on the professional challenge. Looking around the league at the moment, it's easy to see that two former Pac-12 coaches—Jim Harbaugh (Stanford) and Pete Carroll (USC)—have delivered for the 49ers and Seahawks. There's also an East Coast coach with two Super Bowl rings—the Giants' Tom Coughlin, formerly head coach at Boston College.

There's one huge difference between Kelly and that triumphant trio, however. Harbaugh, Carroll and Coughlin all had prior NFL coaching experience as assistants. Kelly’s experience prior to Oregon was at Columbia, Johns Hopkins and New Hampshire. He’s battling a more difficult past, one tied to those who gave it the all-college try.

Johnson went from the Miami Hurricanes machine to the Dallas Cowboys and turned Dallas into a Super Bowl powerhouse. He set it up for straight-from-college successor Barry Switzer to build on the glory. But others with national championship credentials similar to Johnson and Switzer’s didn't come close to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

Consider ol' Florida and current South Carolina ball coach Spurrier, who went 12-20 in two seasons of a failed experiment with the Washington Redskins. Southern California legend John McKay (44-88-1) struggled in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ early days, including with Spurrier as one of his first quarterbacks. Dan Devine (25-27-4) and Lou Holtz (3-10) each eventually won national championships at Notre Dame, but each had to rebound from NFL flops with the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets, respectively.

Before them all was Bud Wilkinson. He won three national titles during in his legendary tenure at Oklahoma, but his coaching career ended after two forgettable seasons with the then-St. Louis Cardinals (9-20).

Kelly comes to the Eagles after leading an Oregon team that was an offensive juggernaut and a BCS bowl game staple. In just four seasons in Eugene, he produced three conference titles and a 46-7 record. After a loss in the 2010 title tilt to Auburn, his team surged to victories in the Rose and Fiesta bowls the past two seasons.

If Kelly had stayed at Oregon, he would have led a program that was trending toward winning it all in 2013. Now he faces the challenge of quickly turning around the Eagles, who didn't meet championship expectations in Andy Reid’s otherwise prosperous era.

It's important to keep in mind, however, that what other college coaching greats have done in the NFL has no bearing on what Kelly will do in the future. Instead, he should be inspired by the coach who had the most NFL wins after jumping from college: Don Coryell.

Like Coryell, Kelly is an offensive innovator and brilliant football mind. In 14 seasons with the Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, Coryell went 114-89-1. Considering he went 127-24-3 in college, primarily at San Diego State, that was a worthwhile transition.

Given how much he's already respected for scheming, preparation and personnel, Kelly has much in common with Coryell and Johnson, who was known for his defensive genius and recruiting/drafting acumen.